I support Freeport’s withdrawal from RSU 5 because:
1. Cost savings that were promised with consolidation did not pan out. Instead, budgets have been balanced by cuts to the “hands-on” portions of staff. Ed techs, reading specialists, and janitors lost their jobs to finance another layer of administration.
2. Student diversity is at risk. More students (those who can afford to) are opting to leave Freeport schools for other districts or private schools.
3. Class offerings have been lost. Non-core but useful and inspirational classes like cooking and fiber arts have been deemed “too expensive to maintain.”
4. Smaller schools and smaller classes are better. (Duke University and MIT Study, October 2013)
5. If consolidation requires a $14 million facility expansion to accommodate 200 students, while 369 seats sit empty in Brunswick, then we need to recheck the original premise.
Pauline S. Hunneman
Freeport
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